


The Illusion of Time

by SailorTsunTsun



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Emerald's semblance, F/M, Hallucinations, Sadness, Season 3 Finale, Season/Series 03 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-13 23:56:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9147715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorTsunTsun/pseuds/SailorTsunTsun
Summary: Just when Jaune thinks Pyrrha’s gone, she shows up during his fight with Emerald.





	

Jaune was running toward the tower when he caught a flash of red and yellow in the corner of his eye.

_ Pyrrha? _

Jaune turns, but instead of seeing the amazing friend and mentor he’s grown to love, he sees the exact person he  _ didn’t _ want to see alive.

_ Cinder _ .

If she’s here, then Pyrrha must be...no. NO. Cinder’s unconscious, being carried away by Emerald. The ends of Cinder’s hair look burned, and one side of her face is covered in blood. Pyrrha could’ve done that to her. Pyrrha could’ve won.

“Where’s Pyrrha?” Jaune asks, his voice cracking.

Emerald stops and turns around cautiously, smirking when she sees Jaune.

“Oh, it’s just you.”

Jaune puts a hand on his sword. This time, his voice is low, steady, almost intimidating. “I said, ‘Where’s Pyrrha?’”

“You mean the girl who brutally tore apart her opponent at the tournament? She got what was coming to her.”

“What?” Just like that, Jaune’s world falls apart. Denial is the only thing he can use to hold the broken pieces of his heart together. “No!” Jaune tightens his grip. “You’re lying! Weiss and Ruby said they’d save her! They wouldn’t let her die!”

“You’re one to talk. You’re the one who let her go fight Cinder by herself. She never stood a chance.”

“SHUT UP!” Jaune growls as he draws his sword. “I would’ve DIED for her! I LOVED her! Don’t EVER insult her again!” 

Jaune charges forward. Burdened with Cinder’s body, Emerald doesn’t react fast enough, and Jaune sends her and Cinder crashing to the ground. Jaune walks over to stand right above Cinder, holding his sword up with the blade pointed toward her heart.

“ _ She’s _ the one who should’ve died,” Jaune chokes out, tears streaming down his face.

“No!” Emerald screams, but Jaune doesn’t back down.

Not until he hears the love of his life calling out to him.

“Hello, Jaune.”

Jaune freezes. That voice, that beautiful, precious voice, somehow manages to capture every fiber of his being. He slowly turns around, utterly hypnotized by the girl standing before him.

“Pyrrha?”

She smiles that sweet, perfect smile of hers, the smile that has encouraged Jaune and helped him through every hurdle he faced at Beacon. She smiles as if nothing is wrong, and to Jaune at that moment, there might as well be nothing wrong. The school may be surrounded by Grimm, but Pyrrha’s alive! Jaune can deal with a bunch of Grimm. He can deal with losing his school. He can even lose his own life. But he can’t lose Pyrrha. 

As soon as Jaune recovers from his shock, he turns back around. After all, Pyrrha didn’t train him to turn his back on the enemy. He can celebrate Pyrrha’s survival later. He has all the time in the world to be with her. But when Jaune looks back, Emerald and Cinder are gone.

“What? Where did they go?” Jaune looks around frantically, but even in the distance, his enemies are nowhere to be found.

“I don’t think I could’ve handled another fight anyway,” Pyrrha says, falling to her knees.

“Pyrrha!”

Jaune drops his sword and runs to crouch down on the ground beside her.

“You must be exhausted from fighting Cin--huh?”

He tried to place a hand on her shoulder, but instead, it goes right through her. She becomes luminescent, and glowing particles float away from her body.

“Pyrrha, what’s going on?”

“I’m sorry, Jaune,” Pyrrha chokes out. “Cinder was too strong for me.”

“No. No, no, no, no, no! You can’t leave! Pyrrha, please, don’t leave. I love you. And I… I…”

Pyrrha’s already mostly faded away. There’s so much more he wants to tell her, but he can’t.

_ There’s no time _ .

Alone once again, Jaune buries his face in his hands and cries.


End file.
